The present invention is related to a mounting means for a cathode ray tube (CRT), and more particularly to a cathode ray tube mounting means that provides a slim profile and eliminates the need for mounting ears while providing for an improved alignment of the components.
Traditional CRT mounting techniques call for the addition of four metal tabs to a tension band which is affixed to the CRT. The tabs are typically referred to as mounting ears. In order to mount such a CRT in a plastic housing, mounting bosses are molded into the housing. The CRT is then retained by passing a screw through a large hole in the mounting ear and into the mounting boss molded into the housing. Large washers are generally used to keep the screwheads or boltheads from passing through the hole in the mounting ear. Two major problems occur with such a technique. The first being, a clearance must be provided around the mounting ear so that they do not interfere with the plastic housing. A second is that the CRT positioning is poor due to the inaccurate locating of the tension band and the mounting ears on the CRT glass. Excessive clearances and/or interferances result from poor CRT positioning. With the sizing of today's display monitors it becomes increasingly attractive to have the size of the housing as small as possible in relation to the size of the CRT screen. The mounting techniques which used mounting ears by necessity dictated that the cabinet, or housing, be sufficiently large in order to accommodate these projections.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,244 entitled "Monitor Bracket" by R. G. Dickie there is disclosed a mounting arrangement which uses the mounting ears that are attached to the CRT. This patent generally sets forth the state of the art for ear type mountings.
Another patent of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,289 entitled "Cathode Ray Tube Mounting Means Including Lighting Means and Camera-Connecting Means" by C. T. Veenendaal. The mounting means disclosed in that patent is concerned with the solution of the problem of aligning a front graphic screen, placed over the CRT inplosion shield in such a manner so as to maintain the graphic screen substantially parallel to the face of the CRT so that when a camera is affixed to the face of the graphic screen the camera does not record a distorted image from the face of the CRT. Wedge shaped members are affixed to the CRT by means of an adhesive. A front casting is provided with guides conforming to the exterior surface of the wedge shaped members. The wedge shaped members are inserted into the guides and mounting elements, such as screws, clamp the front casting to the cathode ray tube.
It would be desirable to have a mounting means which did not require that the various mounting elements be affixed to or be formed as part of the CRT. For ease of assembly, the mounting means should be completely separable from the CRT so that upon replacement, no additional type of fabrication or glueing etc. would have to be done prior to inserting the CRT into the mount. With these problems and desirable features in mind, the inventors have created their present invention.